The Pappas Group - US Immigration

Brookings Issues Report on Immigrant Workers

Brookings has issued a detailed report on Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force. Here’s the introduction: Debates about illegal immigration, border security, skill levels of workers, unemployment, job growth and competition, and entrepreneurship all rely, to some extent, on perceptions of immigrants’ role in the U.S. labor market. These views are often shaped as [...]

Families of American Soldiers Should Not be Deported

It should be a no-brainer that the families of American soldiers who have risked their lives for America should not face deportation. From immigration direct: Despite putting their lives on the line for the United States, several veterans and their families are still at risk of being deported. The Los Angeles Times found that both [...]

Hunger Striker Demands Release from Jail

Ryan Sullivan reports that Attorneys for Winston-Salem activist Uriel Alberto – who is on a hunger strike lasting more than a week – plan to file a bond motion Tuesday in immigration court to try to get him out of the Wake County Jail: Alberto and two other protesters were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct [...]

Becoming a United States Citizen: The Rules

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Naturalization The general requirements for administrative naturalization include: A period of continuous residence and physical presence in the United States; Residence in [...]

Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans: Deadline March 12, 2012

This is a reminder that the USCIS has extended temporary protected status for Salvadorans to March 12, 2012. Here is the USCIS’s prior announcement: WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador for an additional 18 months, beginning March 10, 2012, and ending Sept. 9, [...]

Latinos Say Immigration Issue is Personal

Elizabeth Liorente of Fox News reports that Latinos see Immigration issue as personal, not political: It’s not a dinner table topic for many of them, or the sole issue that will influence whom they support for president in November. But Latinos still listen closely to what candidates say about immigration. A new Fox News Latino [...]

Protest March Against Alabama Anti-Illegal Immigration Law

FoxNews Latino reports: Alabama’s laws cracking down on illegal immigration have become a new focus for a nearly two-decade-old civil rights march. Organizers expect thousands to participate in the crossing of the Selma bridge for the 47th anniversary of the 1965 incident when peaceful demonstrators were attacked by police in what became known as “Bloody [...]

Immigration Lawyers in Central Florida

We represent good people from all parts of the world who desire to legally work and live in America. We have been doing this for twenty years. Our main offices are in Orlando and Tampa, Florida. If you want to discuss your immigration issue, please email us or give us a call. We don’t charge [...]

ICE To Pay $350,000 to U.S. Immigrants for Wrongful Raid

The U.S. has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by eleven immigrants as a result of their arrests after ICE conducted a series of immigration raids in their houses in 2007. The immigrants involved will not be deported. This is the largest settlement ever paid by the United States and immigration lawyers are touting the court settlement as a landmark victory [...]

Utah Wants Immigration Reform

The Immigration Policy Center reports that Utah is trying to pass its own guestworker program: Utah’s Immigration Solution Not a National Model Legislation Fails To Live Up To State’s Best Intentions Washington D.C. – Late Friday night, the Utah Legislature passed three immigration-related bills that await Governor Herbert’s signature or veto. Utah’s policy discussions were [...]

ICE Should Stop Deportations of Haitians

The National Lawyers’ Guild has answered ICE’s request for feedback on it’s policy to resume deporations of Haitian nationals: On Monday, March 7, 2011 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested feedback on its policy to resume deportations/removals to Haiti. The deadline for comments is March 11 to email your comments to ICE. The National Immigration [...]

Immigration Detainees Entitled to Release On Bond

Yesterday in Diouf v. Napolitano the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion confirming that an individual facing prolonged immigration detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) is entitled to release on bond unless the government establishes that he is a flight risk or a danger to the community. In other words, the burden [...]

Immigration Enforcement Increases, Expect More Deportations

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been stepping on immigration enforcement activities. Here’s a recent article from the Associated Press: Federal authorities say a six-day sweep of South Florida has netted 19 illegal immigrants with criminal records. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the operation that ended Thursday also caught four fugitives with final orders of [...]

ICE Enforcement Priorities

John Morton, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), pictured at right, has issued a memorandum the enforcement priorities and procedures of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) as they relate to the apprehension, detention, and removal of non-U.S. citizens.

ICE Detainee Commits Suicide

A Chinese national in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since Feb. 14 passed away on Feb. 23 at the Lock Haven Hospital in Lock Haven, Pa., of an apparent suicide. On Feb. 11, Qi Gen Guo, was encountered by ICE after his arrest by Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). On Feb. 14, [...]

Marriage – The Most Common Way to Get a Green Card

Despite the USCIS’s intensified scrutiny of marriage petitions marriage continues to be the avenue most frequently used by foreign nations to gain U.S. permanent residence. If you are married to a United States’ Citizen or Permanent Resident you may qualify for an immigrant visa based on marriage. Marriages Where Immigrant is Outside the United States Generally, a foreign resident [...]

Asylum: The One Year Rule

To reduce the number of fraudulent asylum applications Congress passed a law in 1996 that provided that applicants must petition the U.S. Government for asylum within 1 year of their arrival in the U.S. Exceptions to the One Year Rule There are two exceptions to the 1 year rule: Existence of changed circumstances in your home [...]

How to Prepare a Winning Marriage Application

Marriage to an American citizen is the most common method foreign nationals use to obtain permanent residence or green card status in the United States. It is also the method that is most often abused. Because of the high incidence of fraud, USCIS officials carefully scrutinize all marriage applications (and their related adjustment of status applications) to ensure that the marriage [...]

How to Submit a Winning a L-1 Visa Petition

Before an employer files a petition for an L-1 visa for a prospective intra-company transferee it is important that certain rules are followed to minimize the chances of rejection by the USCIS. Here are five tips that a petitioning employer must consider when submitting an L-1 visa petition: Provide documents evidencing your corporate ownership (stock certificates, joint-venture or affiliation agreements). These documents are needed to prove that [...]

Cancellation of Removal for Non-Permanent Residents: How to Win

Cancellation of Removal for non-Permanent Residents is a form of relief from deportation available to foreign nationals who meet the following four requirements: Have been physically present for a continuous period of at least ten years preceding the date deportation proceedings are commenced; Has had good moral character during that ten year period; Has had no convictions for any crime(s) that can render the [...]

First Group of Haitians Deported Since Last Year’s Earthquake

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (USICE) deported yesterday, 26 Haitians who have criminal convictions. This was the first group of Haitians that have been deported since the U.S. government placed a hold on deportations soon after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that ravaged that country last year. The Haitian-American community in Florida and the immigration advocates who [...]

TPS Program for Haitians Successful

The New York Times reported today that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) received over 53,000 applications from Haitians seeking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of which, the agency approved a majority of those applications. Tuesday, January 18, 2011 was the deadline for Haitians to apply for TPS. The program granted benefits to certain Haitians that were in the U.S. on the day of the earthquake (January 12, [...]

Proposal of Arizona Style Immigration Legislation Not Well Received in Florida Legislature

The Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this week that the proposal of an Arizona style immigration legislation that some say helped Florida’s current Governor Rick Scott get elected, is not well received in the Florida legislature. Critics in the Florida Legislature have said that for Arizona, a border state that has a lot of undocumented immigrants and sees ongoing violence just across the [...]

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a U.S. federal holiday observed on the third Monday in January to remember the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born on January 15, 1929 and the holiday is observed each year around the time of his birthday. Dr. King is best known for being a leader in the advancement [...]

HAITI, One Year After Earthquake.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that today, January 12 is the one (1) year anniversary that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed over 230,000 people and left about 1,000,000 homeless in Haiti, the western hemisphere’s poorest country. In an effort to help Haitian nationals both in the U.S. and in Haiti, President Obama and his administration acted quickly and extended benefits such as Humanitarian Parole and Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS [...]

Bill to Redefine U.S. Citizenship Introduced in Congress

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported today that Representative King, a Republican from Iowa introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act (H.R. 140) on January 5, 2011. If the bill were to be signed into law, it would amend the immigration law and, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would redefine who can be deemed a U.S. citizen at birth. [...]

Is Arizona Style Immigration Related Legislation Brewing in Florida?

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee has invited speakers for a hearing scheduled for later today to provide information about immigration reform and its impact on the State of Florida. Both Florida’s Governor and Attorney General who began their terms in office just last week, support an Arizona style immigration related legislation. We at Pappas Law Group [...]

State Legislators Wanting to Redefine U.S. Citizenship

The New York Times reported today that state legislators from Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina came together and began a national campaign yesterday to end the automatic granting of American citizenship to children born in the U.S. of undocumented immigrant parents. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to U.S. citizenship for for everyone born or [...]

USCIS Implements the Help Haiti Act of 2010

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported earlier this week that it will implement the Help Haiti Act of 2010 that was signed by the President on December 9, 2010. The law authorizes USCIS to grant lawful permanent resident (green card) status to certain Haitian children who are orphaned and were also paroled into the United States pursuant to the Haitian [...]

Number of Available H-1B Visas for FY 2011 Dwindling Fast

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported recently that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, it has issued 55,800 H-1B visas under the Regular Cap. The agency has also issued all 20,000 visas under the Master’s Cap. At this time there are only 9,200 visas available. Therefore, any applications submitted by employers whose beneficiaries hold a Master’s degree or higher [...]